Submitted by Marcia Reinagel
A pair of distinguished space scientists will bring the heavens down to earth next week in a two-part lecture series sponsored by the Arizona Senior Academy at Academy Village.
Both talks will begin at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 29 and March 1 and are free and open to the public. They will take place in the Arizona Senior Academy Great Room, adjacent to the community center at Academy Village, 13715 E. Langtry Lane.
Marcia Neugebauer, a physicist/scientist who worked on U.S. Army and NASA projects at Cal-Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 44 years, will speak on Feb. 29 on space weather: changes in the properties of interplanetary space caused by events that occur on our sun. These events affect space systems, space travel, man-made satellites and even life on earth.
Neugebauer is retired but continues to do research "on the fun stuff" as an adjunct research scientist at the University of Arizona.
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Drew Potter, an astronomer who worked for NASA and its predecessor for 44 years prior to his retirement, will speak on March 1 on space debris: the tens of millions of objects in orbit around the earth that were created by humans but no longer serve any useful purpose. These include paint flakes, dust from solid-fuel rocket motors and metal fragments released from collisions, dead spacecraft and dead rocket bodies.
During his career at NASA, Potter discovered sodium and potassium atmospheres of Mercury and the moon and served as mission scientist for the first scientific payload of the Space Shuttle. He is currently visiting astronomer at the National Solar Observatory in Tucson.
If you go
What: "Space Weather" talk by Marcia Neugebauer, and "Space Debris" talk by Drew Potter
When: 3:30 p.m. Feb. 29 (weather) and March 1 (debris)
Where: Arizona Senior Academy Building at Academy Village, 13715 E. Langtry Lane
Cost: Free; contributions accepted
Reservations: Recommended; call 647-0980
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